Also, what tips do you have for a first time wine maker? I know brewing kits often come with outdated or be incomplete instructions. What are some tips, instructions, ideas that will give me a good chance of making decent wine the first time out. I am planning on doing both red and white. I have not decided on a kit yet but will be looking for something on the higher end.

I was told that if you can make Kool-aide, then you can make wine. It's very easy to do and the results were far better than I expected. Just follow the directions with your wine kit and like beer, keep an eye on your fermentation temps. Wine seems to be more forgiving with fermentation temps than beer. When mixing and degassing your beer, you may want to do this in a tub or in the garage as some wine may splash out and you don't want to stain any carpet or hardwood floors.

"An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience." - Mitch Hedberg

cornershot

Ferment reds warm, whites cool. Temperature control!I asked a pro I know for tips and he said to purge bottles with nitrogen when bottling. I don't have nitrogen so I use my beer gun and purge with co2. Filter it if you can. My lhbs rents a wine filter. Makes a big difference. Patience: resist the urge to drink it before it's time. And on that note, make a lot! It takes quite a while to condition, particularly reds. If you want enough to share, a 5 or 6 gallon batch doesn't seem to go far.

Whites: 50-60f. A too-vigorous fermentation will blow off too much of the aromatics. Think lager fermentation

Reds: 70-80f ambient air temp and just let it do it's thing. Because reds are fermented on the skins, the warmer temperature will help extract the goodness from the skins. Use a heat belt or other heat source if you have to. Think saison fermentation.

Thanks Big Al. How long should they be at these temps? Actually, better way to ask is on average how long should I expect fermentation to last? More important for the white since I will need to use my fridge.